Here’s a easy question,
What, besides your hand, are you using to sign your shaped blanks with. Pen? sharpie? Pencil? Posca?
Drew
#2 soft lead pencil.
Pencil most of the times…and sometimes printed signature on ricepaper…
Cabeto
I don’t write on the foam or stringer. I use a Faber-Castell drafting pen on a sanded hotcoat. Various tip widths available from 000 (extremely thin) to 7 (about as wide as a medium sharp pencil). Customer’s name and date are all that I usually put on. Since I’m not in this as a business and don’t actively seek new customers, the customer knows who I am and and doesn’t need my ego on his board.
Hey Honolulu… I’m not in this as a business either, but I enjoy signing my boards anyways…
By the way… how many surfboards have you shaped?
Cabeto
I understand the ego thing, but I believe there are two reasons for signing your work. One, If someone commissions a personal board from you it’s because he must appreciate your work (or at least your price if not the work), and therefore usually he’ll also appreciate the work of art being signed by the person who crafted it. Two, if you have pride in your work as a craftsman / artist, you should sign it for your own sake. A well crafted surfboard is functional sculpture. Honor the work with a signature that says you care about your craft. Spoze if some guys just prefer to pop them out factory style in mass, well that’s another story… i wouldn’t want my name on it.
I usually put the board dimensions, because that saves from having to measure the board later if someone asks! And the date it was made, who made for, and a serial no. Since I’m writing all that, I usually put my name too.
Oh yeah, black Zig calligraphy pen on stringer seems to show up thru the glass just fine. (or pencil on foam if I can’t find my pen, doh!)
Personally, I use blood, sweat, and sometimes tears. The shape itself has my “DNA” and speaks for itself. For those not completely in tune with what I create for them, I also write the dimensions and serial number using a semi-dull carpenter’s flat pencil; Clark has been issuing some pencils like that lately. I don’t actually put my name on the blank but I bet most shapers do…
does anybody use chalk or crayons
We use to sign on the stringer with pencil but Kokua turned us on to using India Ink on the hotcoat. Black on a light board and white on a dark board. If you want the bling bling you can even use gold. It really looks awesome (not gold) if you do it with a Caligraphy (sp) pen.
I was helping a couple of youngsters on a board for a school project.They spent around 4 hours on the board itself(I finished it).Funny thing is they spent 50 hours designing a cool logo and practicing fancy signatures on foam scraps. I usually sign my boards “Phil Edwards” or “Al Merrick” with a pencil…I get more money that way.
This doesn’t work on a sanded finish then does it? The india ink that is? Wouldn’t it sand off?
Forgive me if I miss the obvious
Christian…I guess I need to quit kidding around.Anyway…I use a Rapidograph India Ink pen to apply signatures,art work etc. on the hotcoat.This is done after the board is sanded.India ink will not bleed when you gloss over it.The cool thing is you can play around with it and if you don’t like the results you can wipe it off with acetone and a paper towel.One of the finest boards I ever saw was painted by a caligraphy artist.it looked like tatoo work.If you are not going to gloss the board you can spray some clear acrylic over the work.Hope this helped.
Nah,t he joke part I got… don’t worry I’m not THAT slow…